. >> reporter: led by companies like square and paypal, mobile payment technology has taken off. even bank of america offers its own card swiping attachments. but with credit card theft and fraud as widespread as ever, some customers might be asking, is it safe? >> the short answer is, yes, it is very safe, reliable and in many ways more convenient and more useful way of engaging in a credit card transaction. >> reporter: the ceo at the electronic transaction association that represents visa, mastercard and about 500 other companies, says in some instances mobile payments are safer. >> when you're using, for example, a cloud based digital wallet, that information is not even stored on the phone itself. it's in the cloud. you're accessing it on your phone but the information about your credit card is not physically stored on your phone. >> reporter: that's why predictions about the mobile payment industry are also at cloud level. >> and we will reach the point over the course of the next decade where consumers will use their mobile phones as payment devices more often than those p